Sunday 22 July 2012

Topkids No. 23 - Birds of a Feather Flock Together Shirt .

Birds of a feather flock together - having made tops for my youngest and eldest daughters out of the same hummingbird fabric. However I think they would rather be plucked , quartered and roasted before they were seen together in them !
My daughter wanted a simple sleeveless button up collared blouse - we saw heaps of this style on our school holiday shopping trip and lots of bird prints too .
I pulled out all of my old Topkids pattern books and found a pattern I could convert to what she wanted.  

This one is issue 26 from Spring 1993 ! I used to absolutely love my topkids pattern books . They are like burda magazines ( with the same kind of instructions and no diagrams ) but the patterns are almost exclusively for children. I made dozens and dozens of the patterns and had only a handful of the Big 4 patterns for my children. I loved the magazines so much they were a part of my fire plan ( after grabbing children, pets, important documents, etc etc if there was time I would take my magazines- that is a bit sad but hopefully other sewing fanatics would  understand .)
I have always wanted to sew this pattern but my daughter did not want the interesting parts of the pattern - the shaped hem and added flaps with the extra buttons.


The pattern has you finish the neckline and armholes  with single fold bias binding ( made of self fabric ) . I also was able to do french seams everywhere  so I think my youngest daughter was pleasantly surprised by the end result . She certainly wore it right away when we went to friends for tea  and she was quite happy to pose for the blog  ( I didn`t even have to twist her arm or anything else for that matter.) If anyone has young children and babies I would  recommend getting old copies of these if you see them. The baby clothes are seriously cute .
I can now also say that having sewn more chiffon I am no longer afraid of it .
Well now my blog is starting to look like an Alfred Hitchcock movie I must leave the last word to Bob the Second.

Honestly while the girls got on with the serious business of pecking and scratching Bob POSED for the camera.
Cheers Janine. P.S My family are back from France and it is wonderful.

8 comments:

  1. Another lovely shirt. I tend to like this style a lot too. Simple lines, sheer (allowing for lots of camisole options), and sleeveless are all winners for the warmer weather.

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  2. I absolutely LOVE that fabric! I don't know if you planned the fabric placement, or it just happened, but the flow of the birds on the shirt just seems...well....perfect :)

    Love the shot of Bob too ;-)

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  3. Bob's a beauty! And so is that shirt. Love all the professional-looking finishing details.

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  4. The bird shirt is gorgeous! I have some Topkids too, and used them almost exclusively for my children's clothes when they were little. I recognised the picture from the magazine instantly!!

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  5. Beautiful shirt and especially so for the print and the fact it is chiffon. Bob is certainly strutting his stuff!

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  6. The bird shirt is lovely. I have a lot of Topkids too and wouldn't part with them although this particular issue was pre my parenting days. I was really disappointed when they stopped putting out these magazines.

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  7. The shirt is so pretty, it looks as easy to wear as a t shirt, but much more feminine.
    I loved my TopKids magazines too, and have a rather large and well dog-eared pile that I am planning to use again one day.

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  8. Sooooper pretty blouse! Your daughter is a very lucky lady! xx

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